site.btaMyara Poll: President Most Trusted, GERB-UDF Would Win Elections "Now"

On Friday, the Myara Sociology Agency published the findings of a public opinion poll which it conducted between February 6 and 16 among 803 adult respondents. The political section of the poll shows voters' approval and disapproval of state institutions and individual politicians and gives an idea of political parties' chances of entering Parliament if elections were held now.

Institutions' ratings

The President remains the institution with the highest rating of 47.6% against 38.4% of respondents with a negative opinion of him. Weeks after it was set up, the Government enjoys a 26.8% approval rating against 56.7% disapproval. Parliament's approval rating is 11.2%, while 76.7% disapprove of it.

Politicians' ratings

The President also enjoys the highest public approval as an individual politician. Rumen Radev's approval score in the poll is 46.7%, followed by that of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (18.9%), GERB leader Boyko Borissov (15.9%) and National Assembly Chairperson Nataliya Kiselova (15.3%). The pollsters note that Kiselova, who rose to the highest echelon of Bulgarian politics in December, is not very recognizable yet.

Myara go on to comment that, as a rule, the disapproval ratings of individual Bulgarian politicians are higher than their approval scores, with few exceptions. Some of the current high-ranking politicians such as Atanas Zafirov, the new leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, are not yet as familiar to the public as they could be, which affects their ratings. The poll shows that Zafirov has 5.7% approval and 60.8% disapproval, and the share of respondents "unfamiliar" with him is a little over 23%.

The factor of "familiarity" also plays a role in the case of Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (DRF) and Yes Bulgaria!, where it seems that the individual ratings of Ahmed Dogan and Hristo Ivanov are more relevant, although they are not the operative leaders who run day-to-day party affairs. Dogan gets 6.7% approval and 86.1% disapproval, and Ivanov's score is 6.1% against 77%.

Likewise, disapproval is rather high for Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev, the co-leaders of Continue the Change. Some 8.9% of respondents approve of Petkov and about 84% disapprove of him. The numbers for Vassilev are 8.5% and 81.9%, respectively.

Other politicians' approval-disapproval scores are as follows: Democratic Bulgaria co-leader Atanas Atanassov: 7.8% against 72.9%; Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov: 9.2% against 76.5%; Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning floor leader Delyan Peevski: 5.1% against about 89%; There Is Such a People leader Slavi Trifonov: 8.7% against 76.9%; and MECh leader Radostin Vasilev: a little over 6% against 67.5%.

Ivelin Mihaylov, who leads the non-parliamentary Velichie (Grandeur) party, is covered by the poll as well. Respondents give him 5.8% approval and 67.1% disapproval.

Myara comment that the ratings are more indicative of mass preferences rather than the performance of the individuals concerned. Figures not engaged in daily political struggle usually enjoy higher approval; smaller parties generate lower approval for their leaders; and a longer political career usually entails lower public approval.

If elections were held now

Nine political entities would enter the National Assembly if elections were held now, the poll shows. GERB-UDF would garner 26.5% of the vote, Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria 13.9%, Vazrazhdane 13.5%, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning 10.1%, Democracy, Rights and Freedoms 7.0%, the Bulgarian Socialist Party 6.8%, There Is Such a People 6.4%, MECh 5.9%, and Velichie 4%.

Other parties would collectively win about 6% of the vote. Voters who would check the "none of the above" box on the ballot paper to show they support none of the parties account for 3.1% of the total.

The findings of the poll do not indicate any big changes compared with the results of the latest parliamentary elections in October 2024, Myara comment. They expect that voters' moods are yet to be influenced by political developments.